Pathum Thani: BG Pathum United of Thailand and Vietnam’s Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC will return to ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup action when the pair face off in Group A at Pathum Thani Stadium on Wednesday.
The two sides have had similar starts to their campaigns, picking up four points from two games to sit level on four points – along with Indonesia’s PSM Makassar – with the top two sides in the six-team group set to advance to the semi-finals.
BGPU began the competition with a scoreless draw away to PSM before in August returning home to record their first victory the following month. However, they were made to work hard for the three points against Cambodia’s PKR Svay Rieng FC.
The Thai side opened the scoring through Raniel Santana if the first half only to be pegged back when the visitors levelled on the hour. But it was BGPU’s star players who won the tie shortly after as Chanathip Songkrasin crossed for Teerasil Dangda to score the decisive goal.
Since then, the Pathum Thani side parted ways with head coach Makoto Teguramori, who has been replaced by Surachai Jaturapattarapong.
Domestic form has been inconsistent so far this season, with the side currently sitting in fourth place in the standings but 14 points adrift from leaders Buriram United, who they suffered a 2-0 home loss to in late December. Second place is now seemingly their most realistic target.
Thanh Hoa, meanwhile, began their Shopee Cup campaign with a 3-1 win over Myanmar’s Shan United FC as they recovered from falling behind early on to claim all three points after goals from Rimario Gordon, Yago Ramos and Luiz Antonio.
In their second march they fell two down to Malaysia’s Teregganu FC but again produced a comeback, with Antonio again on the scoresheet before an own goal saw the Vietnamese club secure a point away from home.
Domestically, Thanh Hoa currently sit top of V.League 1 after nine games having won their past three successive matches. However, Velizar Popov’s side have not played since late November with the league taking a break during Vietnam’s victorious ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ campaign.
BG Pathum United vs Đông Á Thanh Hóa FC
Venue: Pathum Thani Stadium, Pathum Thani
Kick-off: 8 January, 7:00 PM (Local Time)
Share now
